


Kids In A Candy Store

by socialanxietea (spiderstanspiderstan)



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Awkward Flirting, Candy, Dating, Dorks in Love, F/M, Fluff, Holding Hands
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-14
Updated: 2018-11-14
Packaged: 2019-08-23 15:36:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 750
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16621718
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spiderstanspiderstan/pseuds/socialanxietea
Summary: Steven and Peridot go on a date to a salted caramel store.





	Kids In A Candy Store

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Platon](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Platon/gifts).



“Try it!”

Steven held out the sample of caramel, the toothpick gripped delicately between his fingers. Peridot took it, and examined it, turning it from side to side like a specimen in a lab. She watched Steven eat his, then mimicked him.

“Do you like it?” Steven asked. Peridot _mmhf_ ’d a reply, still chewing. Her brow furrowed slightly, like she was struggling to process it.

“I…” Peridot said, tapping a finger against her lips. “I was sure I constructed an oral cavity correctly, but…”  
  
“It’s okay if you don’t like it,” Steven replied. “We can go try other flavours, c’mon!”

He offered his arm, and Peridot hooked hers through it, huddling against him as if it was a defense against the bright lights and loud noise of the salted caramel emporium. It was a distinctly warm, human place, bustling with activity, the warm summer breeze blowing in from the nearby bay.

The walls of the small wooden shop were lined with dispensers; shiny-wrapped caramels glittering in plastic hoppers, primed to flood out to bins below, stiff paper cups and bags waiting to be filled with a selection. He could smell the salt of the ocean in the air.

At the far end of the store, there was a glass display case, full of small trays of unwrapped caramels. Small, golden-edged nameplates, handwritten in white chalk, heralded flavours. Almond, bourbon, chocolate, honeycomb. Some were decorated; dusted with powdered sugar or studded with flaked almonds. They all looked delicious.

Steven watched with a smile on his face as Peridot considered her options, scanning the selection of candies. She had dressed up for this, shifting herself a pink t-shirt and dark green corduroy dungarees. She was wearing matching sneakers, and Steven felt a little bit inadequate by comparison.he didn't have much by way of a wardrobe, so he'd just layered a denim jacket over his standard top and cut-off shorts.

“What’s…” Peridot paused, looked up to him. “Prah-liney?”

“ _Praline,_ ” Steven corrected. “That one's one of my favourites.”  

“Hey,” Peridot said, to the disillusioned girl behind the counter. “Can I have a sample of the praline?”  

The girl took a toothpick in her gloved hand, speared a caramel, and offered it over.

Steven watched in moderate amusement as Peridot took the caramel, and, having learned from her prior experience, delicately licked it.  

Her eyes lit up.

“Steven, this one is actually _good_!” she exclaimed. She crammed the whole caramel in her mouth with such enthusiasm that she almost broke the toothpick. “no wonder humans enjoy food so much! It's fantastic!”

Steven laughed.

“Yeah, I guess that's pretty universal,” he said. “So… you like caramel?”

“Well, clearly I need to take a scientific approach to this,” Peridot said. “And gather more data… by trying more caramels!”

“Good plan!”

Between them, they tried all of them but the liqueurs- Steven had always thought those ones were too bitter, and Peridot agreed after the first touch of her green tongue to the whisky flavoured one.

“I know _exactly_ what we should get, Steven,” she said, hands on hips, once they'd finished taste-testing.

She grabbed his hand, and froze for a second. Steven intertwined his fingers with hers, and her grin returned.

“Come on!” She said, practically dragging him back out into the shop, grabbing a bag from the shelves as they went.

“I am, I am,” Steven giggled, speeding up to match her pace.

He was incredibly happy for the time with her, as simple as it was. Just the simple peace of it. The sun-warmed shop and the chance for Peridot to try new things. The soft reality of a _break,_ of being able to stop worrying about the fate of the earth, and reduce the world to the two of them.

When they stepped back out into the sunshine, nearly an hour later, it was with a bulging bag of caramels between them. The candies seemed to sparkle in the sunlight, glittering like a star cluster of caramel and cellophane.

“I picked them to align perfectly with both of our tastes,” Peridot said, turning to face Steven. “So we can share them! That is, if you want to.”

  
“Of course I'll share them with you,” Steven said. “but… what one was _your_ favourite? Almond? Honey? Chilli?”

Peridot paused.

“I think…” she said, blushing slightly. “I think. Um. That my favourite flavour-”

She stopped, scrunching her eyes closed, and stood on tiptoe to to give him the briefest peck on the lips.

“Is Steven.”   


End file.
